Craig Long
For those of you interested in the Artists here’s a little bit about me…
As all kids do I loved to draw and paint, but after receiving an F in Art at school. I didn’t believe there was any future in it. It was only later in life when I took up painting again as a hobby that my enthusiasm was rekindled. Though at the time I never believed I would become a full time Artist.
Through hard work, determination and the support of my wife and family that dream was realised. And in 2006 we opened our first gallery in Torquay, Devon. After a successful 8 years we decided to move to the Lake District and open a second gallery, which for me has been a lifelong dream to live and paint in the Lakes. Although I still have strong personal and professional ties to Devon, my heart has always been in the mountains.
I think my style of painting is one which has developed over time. And is still evolving with each new painting.. I try to capture a sense of realism, of being there, without being a slave to photo realism. Its also important to keep pushing
the boundaries of what your comfortable with. Not to settle into a formula of what works. Therein lies the risk of all your work looking like its painted at the same time on the same day.
Charlie White
For those of you interested here’s a little bit about me.
Firstly Charlie white is a pseudonym, of Craig Long. All these photographs were taken by me the artist whose paintings are also on this site.
Over the years I have built up a reputation as an artist, so we felt it was too confusing to take photos under the same name.uch like authors produce different work under a pseudonym, its common for artists to do the same.
The photography has come about from the need to take better reference material to paint from, over time it has become a real interest of mine, and an art form in itself. As the great surrealist artist Man Ray once said of his photography “I photograph what I do not wish to paint, and paint what I cannot photograph.”
Though ultimately very different from painting it still has its challenges, the idea that you just press click and voila is one view I have learnt the hard way is not the route to a great image. My ideas of composition and what makes a good image are more from my painting experience, but in the end nature has to play ball too so patience and determination are more important than any equipment, you need to be there to capture the light or drama, and that means lots of walking in all weathers.